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Seattlest Pix 09Nov25
Can't Miss It: Thanksgiving Eve
"I voted for Dino Rossi" is not what you say when you are dating a hard-left politics dork. Seattlest once learned this the hard way. The revelation sparked an argument. We lost. For months, we spent lonely nights reading Lewis Lapham, trying to cure our moderate streak.
But, with the Democrats in gridlock over the Viaduct issue, we feel vindicated. The internecine squabbling that's led us to a point where we're having a meaningless advisory vote between two ill-conceived projects, is a direct result of granting one political party all the power.
Look at Iraq. Only now, with the Democrats holding one branch of the government, are we finally seeing long overdue changes like Rumsfeld and Casey out, Republicans bucking the party line, etc.
Here, we've got a governor who's too tied up in her relationships with fellow Democrats to make the executive decision she was elected to do. She can't go against House leader Frank Chopp, she needs him to forward her agenda in the legislature. And she can't alienate the Seattle establishment--many of whom are her main backers, many of whom want the tunnel.
The Democrats are like a dysfunctional family--content to blame each other for their problems when the alternative of a glance in the mirror would be too painful.
If you had a Republican in office, they could cut through the bullshit, make a decision, and use the prestige of their position to bully everyone in line.
Everywhere we've lived--California (Schwarzenegger), New York (Giuliani), Vermont (some Republican dude, can't remember the name), the combination of an executive of one party and a legislature of another has meant better, more effective government. That's why we held our nose in 2004 and eschewed Gregoire for a guy who named his dog "Dubya." After her performance in the biggest issue facing Seattle, if Rossi runs again, which looks likely, we won't be holding our nose.
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Thank god someone in Seattle finally said this.
If Republican's ran state, city, and county politics as completely as the Democrat's do now, I'd venture to guess we'd be seeing the exact same clusterfuck. One party politics anywhere simply does not work.
Because this city votes almost entirely for the donkey in Federal elections (which they're certainly entitled to) they do the same locally and we end up with Nick Licate and Jean Godden involved in billion dollar decisions, neither of whom I'd trust to purchase a new pair of socks.
I abhor national party politics screwing up where I live.
whao, someone read lewis lapham? are you still breathing?
I'm not sure that any of those "Republicans" are really in the same league as Dino Rossi. What decision to you think he'd make that she hasn't?
Here's the "clusterfuck" you're talking about:
1) Greg Nickels wants a tunnel.
2) Gregoire says there's no money for your tunnel, please advise what you want to do with this federal money.
3) City council and mayor disagree about what to do with the money; asks public for advisory vote.
4) A decision is made, based on what the public, mayor, city council, legislature, and governor think.
Isn't that a good process? Billions of dollars are being spent here and all interests should be taken into consideration. Here's what would likely happen with Dino Rossi as our governor:
1) Mayor of Seattle wants a tunnel; city council is divided.
2) Nobody knows what the public wants.
3) Rossi laughs and makes Seattle build a new viaduct no matter what; gives billion dollar contracts to former frat brothers.
The examples you cited with an executive of a different party than the legislature (Guiliani, Schwarzenegger) worked because these individuals were exceptional in their leadership and ideas (not that I necessarily agree with them). They don't mindlessly follow the party line and make enemies with both parties. That's vastly different than Dino Rossi, who might as well be Dick Cheney Jr.
josh, Dino would have just flat-out said "no" to the tunnel. You might not have agreed with him, but at least he would have stepped up and made a decision. And taken the heat (or the plaudits) for his leadership.
It's called accountability. Something that's hard to do when one-party runs the show.
What decision has she made, period?
Actually, I think this kinda points out where the problem with the Viaduct lies. It's too damn emotionally symbolic. When deciding how to fix 2 freaking miles of roadway becomes an issue big enough to decide who should be governor, we're getting a little too close to the microscope.
And Lewis Lapham rulz!
Seth: Gregoire rejected the original tunnel plan, which was still being pushed by a misguided Nickels. She also gave a deadline for Seattle's decision.
DJ: Kind of makes you miss the days of King George, huh? (not Bush)
MvB: It is a symbolic issue, but it's a very important one. This will decide whether Seattle wants to follow the world trend of paying attention to global warming, energy security, and urban planning, or whether Seattle wants to be Dallas Jr and invest in sprawl over everything else.
Yes, Jamie, but then she said that she wouldn't ignore the results of the vote instead of saying "The state will not fund a tunnel, so unless you want to raise your own property taxes about 50%, or have a toll road, you're going to get an elevated expressway. Save yourself a stamp and don't bother with the stupid special election."
Well, someone has no knowledge of politics. Since when has a governor in this state been able to bully people into accepting anything?
Were Dino governor, he and Frank Chopp would have cut a deal to build a new viaduct, and Seattle would have sued. Dino couldn't have stopped that. So we'd be in court instead of at least being able to vote.
Meanwhile we'd have a socially conservative governor telling people that sex ed is evil, global warming is a lie, and the earth is 6000 years old.
All so you can have someone make the trains run on time.
My god, Seattle is full of some truly stupid people. And some of them even have blogs!
Well, Eugene, you've just perfectly encapsulated the attitude that stops anything from getting done around here.
If anyone tries to make a decision, or exercise any of the power the voters have given them, they get compared to Mussolini. Wonderful.